Compilation of Lean Now! Project Reports

In August 2002, the Principal Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and government co-chairperson of the Lean Aerospace Initiative (LAI), decided it was time for Air Force acquisitions to embrace the concepts of lean. At her request, the LAI Executive Board developed a concept and methodology to employ lean into the Air Force’s acquisition culture and processes. This was the birth of the “Lean Now” initiative. An enterprise-wide approach was used, involving Air Force System Program Offices (SPOs), aerospace industry, and several Department of Defense agencies. The aim of Lean Now was to focus on the process interfaces between these enterprise stakeholders to eliminate barriers that impede progress. Any best practices developed would be institutionalized throughout the Air Force and the Department of Defense. The industry members of LAI agreed to help accelerate the government-industry transformation by donating lean Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to mentor, train, and facilitate the lean events of each enterprise. The industry SMEs and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology worked together to help the Air Force develop its own lean infrastructure of training courses and Air Force lean SMEs.
The focus of Lean Now! was to:
• Apply lean principles to government-industry critical processes
• Align organizational capabilities with war fighter requirements
• Leverage industry experience in process re-engineering, transformation and improving capabilities.